Sanitary conduit for use in the dairy, food processing and beverage industries must not only be corrosion resistant but must provide a flow path that is free of all discontinuities or crevices that could trap the particulate matter that may be carried by the fluid stream. Sanitarians recognize that any accumulation of particulates may give rise to decay that could contaminate the fluid stream. To provide such a crevice-free, "stream-line" flow path, extensive use is made of smooth-bore stainless steel piping equipped with special sanitary-use fittings.
In addition to the fixed piping system, however, almost every installation has a need for some flexible connections. The rigid sanitarian proscription against the presence of crevices and traps rule out the use of conventional hose fittings and have heretofore required that the stainless steel sanitary fittings had to be permanently attached to the flexible hoses. Such attachment could only be accomplished at a factory or with special tools.
In practice, the usable life of a flexible hose tends to be much shorter than that of fixed stainless steel piping. When it becomes necessary from time to time to replace such hoses it has not heretofore been possible to reuse the permanently attached and costly stainless steel fitting. It is accordingly an object of the present invention to provide a stainless steel sanitary fitting that could be detached and re-used with a new hose. Moreover, it would be advantageous to provide a fitting that meets sanitarian requirement and that can be installed in the field by an end-user without the need for special tools.